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Qualifying report

Burtin Racing top Porsche GT qualifier at The Glen

The team placed seventh in qualifying for Sundays Six Hours of The Glen.

#17 Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche GT3 Foametix: Claudio Burtin, Martin Ragginger

#17 Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche GT3 Foametix: Claudio Burtin, Martin Ragginger

Jackie Buys

FOAMETIX®/Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Top Porsche Qualifier and Seventh Overall in GT for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen

#17 Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche GT3 Foametix: Claudio Burtin, Martin Ragginger
#17 Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche GT3 Foametix: Claudio Burtin, Martin Ragginger

Photo by: Jackie Buys

No. 17 FOAMETIX/Burtin Racing Porsche GT3 team competing in North American Endurance Championship presented by VISITFLORIDA.com with Claudio Burtin and Martin Ragginger

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 30, 2012) – The No. 17 FOAMETIX®/Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche GT3 qualified seventh in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GT class and clocked in as the fastest Porsche in the starting field Saturday in qualifying for tomorrow’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International.

The No. 17 FOAMETIX® Porsche is being co-driven this weekend by team owner/driver Claudio Burtin and top European road racing talent Martin Ragginger who handled the qualifying chores for the team on Saturday. Both drivers and the FOAMETIX®/Burtin Racing team are making their Watkins Glen debuts this weekend but it hardly showed in Ragginger’s solid qualifying lap time of 1:51.718 (109.562 mph).

“Our car ran well in qualifying and the tires held up,” said Goldcrest’s Steve Cosgrove. “Other teams are having trouble with rear tires but we haven’t experienced it at this point yet. Hopefully that will play into our hand a bit and we’ll be good for the race. Our goal will be to stay out of trouble and shoot for a top-five finish.”

The No. 17 FOAMETIX® Porsche ran in the top five in the early stages of the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in January with Ragginger at the wheel but a punctured radiator just hours into that race and some other typical endurance racing issues didn’t take away from a strong performance. Racing to a top-five finish tomorrow is a more than realistic goal but a full field of 21 top level GT competitors will also be taking the green flag.

“It’s going to be tough,” Cosgrove said. “There are a lot of good cars. You’ve got Patrick Long and Andy Lally in the Rolex 24 winning Magnus car, Brumos is here too, not to mention the Ferraris and the Mazdas. This is one of the strongest fields I’ve seen in GRAND-AM in a long time. It’s like the Rolex 24 with a lot of stacked cars that are really strong. We just need a clean race, and to let Claudio get his seat time and stay out of trouble. He is still adjusting to the track, and is doing a great job, but it’s a really fast track with the Prototypes and the rest of the field. Claudio will just have to keep his eyes open, look in his mirrors, stay out of trouble, and I know he can do it.”

The No. 17 FOAMETIX®/Burtin Racing with Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche GT3 is contending for GRAND-AM’s inaugural North American Endurance Championship (NAEC) presented by VISITFLORIDA.com. Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours is Round 2 of the unique NAEC “championship in a championship” that began at the Rolex 24. The three-race NAEC battle will conclude next month in the inaugural GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Brickyard Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, July 27.

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